Xenornis

After my family hopped the bus back to El Valle early last week, I spent a few long days chasing some target birds from the Burica Peninsula through Fortuna to lowland Bocas del Toro. The first major highlight was a male Yellow-billed Cotinga found at the end of the road at Chorcha Abajo on 24-10; the bird was present but distant even for a scope view when I arrived, but I waited almost two hours for it to come in closely enough for a clear i.d. Thank you to Kilo Campos for his reports for this area, which gave me the faith to keep waiting! On the 25th I visited the Burica Peninsula, but bad weather early in the day, combined with confusion as my Charco Azul access, served to limit my success. Nonetheless, the road leading uphill just before the Petroterminales access yielded a male Common Yellowthroat and a female-plumaged Ruby-throated Hummingbird. The water level on the Quebrada Mellicita was very high, so I could walk in for 100 yards or so (even with good boots), but still a...

During my last trip to Cana that started from December 28th to January 4th with Andrew Valleley and Dale Dyer, we had an excellent adventure where most of the Cana specialties were seen. Frank Rheind saw a Striped Woodhaunter on January 2th, and we saw it the next day at El Paletón trail. Next day we got an Orange-crowned Oriole close to the lodge. According to the book Where to Find Birds in Panama , both birds have not been recorded for Cana. On January 4th we returned from Cana to do birding at the Metropolitan Nature Park to chase the Pheasant Cuckoo, Yellow-green Tyrannule t and Slate-colored Seedeater . All of them were seen. Next day we headed to the west doing some grassland birding around Herrera province where we found a Striped Owl at Las Macanas Marsh. The following day produced the Coiba Spinetail and Brown-backed Dove [at Coiba Island, of course]. On January 7th we had a White-throated shrike Tanager in a big mixed flock, and both wood wrens were seen forag...

Location: Altos de Piedra—Guabal Road, second ridge, near the new facilities of Santa Fe National Park, still on the Pacific slope. Around 600–800 meters above sea level. Time: Saturday, july 18. Around 10:30 a.m. Cloudy. Habitat: Montane very humid forest border. Description: During a stop in the road, we detected a mixed flock about 7 to 10 meters away. Most of them were Dusky-faced Tanagers. But also presents were a pair of Flame-colored Tangers and one Crimson-collared Tanager. They were working along some Melastomes when someone noticed a different bird accompanying the flock. It was a little bit smaller and chunkier than the Dusky-faced Tanagers, with a big-eyed appearance. We (with Rosabel Miró) recognized it almost immediately as a Bush-Tanager (and we were aware of the presence of Yellow-throated Bush-Tanagers in the area). I got a view of the bird without obstructions during approximately 10 seconds with my 10x42 Leica Trinovid against a dark background (a mossy ...

Sólo quería compartir algunos avistamientos que Gloriela y yo hemos realizado desde el pasado fin de semana. Antes de encontrarnos con el grupo de participantes de la gira de campo de la SAP a Santa Fe, fuimos en horas de la tarde del viernes 17 de julio a las ciénegas de Las Macanas (Herrera). Sólo a destacar la presencia de al menos tres Aplomado Falcons a lo largo de la carretera nacional y otro (fotografiado) en la vía de acceso en las Macanas. El tiempo en Santa Fe no nos favoreció (mucha lluvia). Aún así pudimos llegar hasta cerca de la divisoria continental. Cerca del sitio de construcción de la nueva sede del PN Santa Fe en la carretera Alto de Piedra - Guabal (apenas en la vertiente pacífica) nos encontramos con una bandada mixta de tangaras conformada principalmente por Dusky-faced Tanagers con las cuales viajaba un sólo individuo de Ashy-throated Bush-Tanager (luego envio la documentación completa). Varios miembros del grupo pudimos observarla (inclutendo a Gloriela y ...

During the first weeks of January, I spent a few days birding in the Chiriquí highlands and foothills of Bocas del Toro with some friends, looking for some of the Talamanca range endemics. On January 5th a male Masked Duck and a Masked Yellowthroat were seen at Volcán Lakes. The next day we had a White-fronted (Rough-legged) Tyrannulet on the way to the ANAM headquaters at Respingo, where we saw a Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl close to the main building. On January 7th a single White-throated Flycatcher (juvenile) and two Bran-colored Flycatchers at Volcán Lakes. The following day we moved to Rancho Ecológico Willy Mazu. The birding was superb around the area yielding White-crowned Manakin on 8th; Lanceolated Monklet, Ashy-throated Bush-Tanager, Dull-mantled Antbird, plenty of Yellow-throated Bush-Tanagers, a Black-headed Antthrush (heard only) and a good bonanza for the day: a male Bare-necked Umbrellabird on the 9th. On 10th at the Verrugosa trail, Ochre-breasted Antpitta almost...

Delicia and Darién Montañez acompannied Bill Porteous on a productive, week-long expedition to the Fortuna area. On Tuesday, July 17th, after a slow day on the Continental Divide and Río Hornito Trails we spent the later part of the afternoon at La Verrugosa Trail, where two Black-headed Nightingale-Thrushes were seen, one in response to a tape of its song and the second one as we climbed up to the cars, singing from the railing on one side of the trail. Also, we saw a female White-crowned Manakin. On the 18th, after being rained on on many different locations, we also spent the late afternoon at La Verrugosa, where we finally had a flock of 3 or 4 Ashy-throated Bush-Tanagers near (but not with) a mixed flock: olive crwons and backs, gray cheeks and throats and lighter gray vents separated by a yellow-olive chest, olive flanks. I managed to catch a glimpse of a Chiriquí Quail-Dove as it walked into the undergrowth and away from the trail. Rosabel and Karl Kaufmann joined us on Thursday...

George Angehr, Gilles Seutin and I spent a few days in Fortuna and Palo Seco last weekend. George will no doubt be covering things in the FieldEditor's report, but here are some things you might wish to put in the Xenornis. January 30 - Three Snowy Cotingas and one Lovely Cotinga (and two Keel Billed Toucans!) were all seen sitting on the top of a single large tree at about 5.00 pm from the lookout at Km 28 of the new Punta Peña-Almirante road. The tree was in swampy coastal forest, close to an area cleared for cattle pasture. The whole length of the road is now open, with no restrictions at weekends. During the week, however, the middle part is closed for most of the day. There is a fair amount of forest, especially along the first half of the road, but it is not easy to stop and pull off due to steep drop-offs. We saw timber being extracted, almost certainly without ANAM permits, at several points. February 1 - A small group (5 to 6 individuals) of Ashy-Throated Bush-Tanagers was...